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William Ravenscroft
William Robert Anfield Ravenscroft (born 12th January 1976) is the oldest of Peel's children, whose first name was named after schoolboy character William Brown in the Just William stories and the middle names Robert Anfield after his grandfather and Liverpool Football Club's ground: he studied at Combs Middle School in Stowmarket, Suffolk and at the University of Liverpool studying Archaeology. William later on got involved in setting up a website called Unpredictable Porridge http://johnpeeldotnet.wordpress.com/tag/unpredictable-porridge/, where unsigned bands could have their music listened to directly by music executives. The website has since been closed and there is no further news on William's current activities. Girlfriend / Wife William met his long term girlfriend Zahra d'Aronville at university, where she was studying Zoology. After graduating, the couple moved to Newcastle, where Zahra was working as a Marine Biologist at an aquarium and later promoted to management level. https://uk.linkedin.com/in/zahra-ravenscroft-b809b537 In 2008, they decided to get married at St Andrew's Church in Great Finborough, Suffolk. http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/joy_as_late_dj_s_son_weds_1_166292 The couple currently have three children. https://www.instagram.com/zahra_ravenscroft/?hl=en Father And Son John Peel often mentioned his son on his radio shows and in one television documentary in 1999 called Father And Son, he talked about his relationship with William and his criticism of his bedroom hygiene. Later on in his BBC Radio One show from 01 September 1999, Peel apologised privately and publicly to his son William on air about embarrassing him. Mentioned On Shows from 13 December 1989]]The list comes from the database of this site and is incomplete. Please add further information if known. ;1976 *13 January 1976: Peel is proud of his first child's birth named William. ;1978 *25 January 1978: (JP: 'And that's William Ravenscroft the trainee football hooligan, who has a nasty way of getting up around this time to listen to his father's radio programmes.') '' ;1979 *10 January 1979: Peel plays a Residents track to mark the upcoming third birthday of William, ''"who runs Peel Acres with an iron hand." '' *30 April 1979: ''(JP: "I've been going to see Liverpool since I was seven years old, so mine may not be a totally unprejudiced view, but I think Kenny Dalglish is the best football player I have ever seen. And to see whether anyone agreed with me I borrowed a BBC tape recorder over the weekend and went out in the fields and lanes and byways around Peel Acres and spoke to one or two people in the area. The first person I spoke to was a young man and I asked him what he thought of Kenny Dalglish.") (Child: "Kenny Dalglish is magic!") (JP: "Thank you, William.") *01 May 1979: William's "Kenny Dalglish is magic!" jingle gets another airing to celebrate Kenny Dalglish scoring in that evening's 4-1 victory away to Bolton Wanderers. *29 October 1979: JP: "Quite clearly a very good weekend indeed. I mean, a good win for Liverpool on Saturday. And William’s verdict on Match of The Day was thus:" William: “Kenny Dalglish is magic!” JP: “Quite right too.” *05 December 1979: JP: "For those of you who missed the football scores tonight, it's Norwich 1, Liverpool 3. That means Johnson 2, Dalglish 1." (William: "Kenny Dalglish is magic!") Ah, you're right William." ;1980 *29 March 1980 (BFBS): Peel mentions his son William's favourite record to his horror is the latest single from Rainbow. ;1982 *24 February 1982: JP: "..having considerably embarrassed Phil Oakey at the National Rock and Pop Awards by going over and telling him how good I thought they ''(Human League) were and how good my son William thinks they are as well''.." ;1983 *13 January 1983 (TOTP): (JP: …and now at No.17 in the charts, happy birthday William, this is the theme music from ‘E.T.’) '' ;1984 *03 September 1984: William Ravenscroft: "Happy Birthday dear Daddy." ;1985 *04 March 1985: Peel mentions going to Holland with William (age 9) and enjoying spending time with his son, including visiting an excellent Turkish Restaurant. ;1986 * 29 January 1986: Peel mentions meeting LL Cool J in the morning, but failed to get an autograph from him for his son William. *11 February 1986: Peel says his son William is starting to get fan mail mentioning mostly to tell his dad not to play terrible records. *05 March 1986: Peel has received a letter inviting him and William ("''our Willy") to a charity event to raise money for a cancer unit at the Norfolk & Norwich hospital on Sunday 23 March. Peel says he would try and attend although remarks about William that "these days he's a bit off-hand..maybe I will, maybe I won't". *17 March 1986: JP: "Our technical man just asked me if the Pig's Pools win is going to change our lives. Well, after we'd bought William a new pair of trainers and we paid the milk bill and bought a round of drinks, it was all gone I'm afraid." '' *25 March 1986: ''JP: 'Earlier on the day, talking about talking on the telephone, I phoned home and our William answered the phone and I said hello William, as we father's do, what are you up to at the moment, he said I'm talking to you on the phone dad, so he's got his father's sense of humour, what a zany character' *14 April 1986: Peel mentions that the Pig phoned him to say that sons William has his second blue, whilst Thomas got his yellow belt in karate. *13 May 1986: Peel says that Alexandra was impressed with Wanda Jackson's Rock Your Baby, while the track was playing when she and William were helping Peel move records. *14 July 1986: Peel dedicates an MC Dollar Bill record to his son William, after he failed to pass his karate grade. *14 July 1986: Peel mentions seeing the video Krush Groove with his son William and thought the Fat Boys in the film were entertaining. *04 August 1986: Peel claims that his son William is getting too big for himself, as he mentions that his father disrupted his hair. He dedicates a T La Rock record for him. *06 August 1986: Peel mentions that he played Breaking Bells by T La Rock on Monday night and says it is a favourite of his son William. *11 August 1986: Peel mentions that his sons William, Thomas and daughter Alexandra were camping in the garden throughout the night and then they heard a thunderstorm at 4am, which they decided that they should be brought back in the house, after he and the Pig were completely wet in pajamas whilst rescuing them from the rain. *26 August 1986: Peel mentions that his son, William, told the Pig that he wished he could help her with the ironing every night. *13 October 1986: Peel dedicates the Biz Markie track to his son William, who got within 30 hours, a brown belt in Karate and his orange belt in Judo. As well as his other children, Tom, who got his green belt in Karate and his daughter Alexandra, who lost 2 fights in a spirited manner, which the Pig witnessed. ;1987 * 12 January 1987: Peel mentions that it's William's birthday, who was not pleased along with his friends when his father dropped them to school during the snow and found out that he was the only one in the village to successfully drop them, whilst the place was closed and everybody else was at home. *27 January 1987: Peel had reservations about the Microdisney LP, but his son William doesn't seem to have any. He then plays his favourite track, Give Me All Of Your Clothes from the album, as it has an imitation of Alan Vega. *23 February 1987: Peel had been to see the band Europe in Birmingham with his son William. "It was one of those things you go to really expecting to be able to tear it to shreds to be honest with you, actually in a sense there wasn't enough there to dislike. By the end of it I felt quite sympathetic towards them. You'll be appalled to hear that, I don't doubt, some of you, but... a good show, there's no getting away from it. They could actually play quite well and it was quite entertaining. Perhaps I'm mellowing in my old age." (Review is reprinted in Olivetti Chronicles, p.64) *04 March 1987: Peel reveals that his son William is a subscriber of Oink! comics. *09 March 1987: Peel mentions him and the Pig play jokes when shopping by having her tell him 'speak up you stupid man' and saying to his son William in the car that his dad and mum are not married and that his father is an impostor named Andrew. *06 April 1987: Peel dedicates a hip hop record by Shock Wave to his son William, who is going for 5 days to a museum near Ironbridge. *06 April 1987: (JP: 'And the Smiths as you know have already recorded a song about William and the new one is about Sheila, which is the Pig's real name, so there is only only Thomas, Florence and Alexandra to go, here it is') *15 June 1987: (JP: 'You probably don't realise that we get industrial injuries in this job. I may have mentioned this to you before, but I spend so much time opening envelopes with the side of my thumb that there's a kind of permanent part of me thumb which is all very dry and cracked, and from time to time it starts bleeding rather profusely: it's doing it at this very moment. I just tell you this so that you'll feel sorry for me, but I don't think it's actually severe enough for me to be able to claim any compensation from any kind of industrial injury compensation board, if such a thing even exists any longer. I've also got a twisted ankle, because this afternoon I spent playing football with our William, because he'd got the day off school. Quite interesting, because he had to go to a specialist in Ipswich this morning because he's growing two rows of teeth. It's not unusual in crocodiles, but fairly unusual in sub-humans, I think. Looks fairly interesting, though. I've been saying he ought to leave it as a kind of feature, but he thinks it ought to be sorted out: pick the best of them and take the rest out.') '' *30 June 1987: ''(Reads a letter from a listener who says, 'If you have four children, why do you only ever mention William, or are all four of them called William?', to which JP replies, 'That's not a bad idea. If I'd thought of calling all four of them William, I might have gone ahead and done it.') '' *14 July 1987: Peel mentions that William has had a bad ole week, because last week he had a black eye because of a car accident and he split his forehead today after falling from his bicycle, whilst cycling in the village. *21 July 1987: Peel mentions that his son William has so far had 2 lessons in learning to play the Saxophone. *28 July 1987: Peel mentions that the Pig has said William unprecedented bought sweets for Thomas with his own money, which JP thinks won't last long, but is a step in the right direction. *17 August 1987: John ponders exactly how his weekend guests from Germany managed to get through seven pints of milk, and has an argument with William about saxophone playing (or more precisely, the lack of it. *28 September 1987: ''(JP: 'This is a record which could easily be recorded by William 11, Alexandra 9, Thomas 7 and Florence 5. In fact it's by the Angry Samoans, but it applies at our house, My Old Man's A Fatso') ;1988 *11 January 1988: Peel mentions that he and his son William saw Echo & The Bunnymen in concert at the NEC Arena in Birmingham last Thursday and thought they were excellent. *11 January 1988: (JP: 'And now for our William, who could possibly be listening, but probably isn't, but he's twelve tomorrow, or twelve in about fifty one minutes time in fact. Ca$h Money & Marvelous, Play It Kool, which he will, no doubt, too cool') *19 January 1988: Peel mentions taking his son William and his friends to swimming in Suffolk last weekend. *19 April 1988: Peel mentions speaking to the Pig, who tells him that their son William would be doing his first gig on Wednesday week as an alto-saxophonist. *26 April 1988: Peel mentions that his son William is in Derbyshire with his school trip. *18 May 1988: Peel mentions discussing the subject of hair with his son William, as his bedroom drawers and cupboards are so full of hairsprays, gels and other containers that he said he had to lean back to avoid being crushed when opening them. *31 May 1988: Peel mentions his son William is now getting into hardcore punk *01 June 1988: Peel mentions that his son William, likes Doctor And The Crippens. *27 June 1988: Peel mentions he's worried over his son William, as he wants a chainsaw for Christmas. *29 June 1988: Peel dedicates the Jungle Brothers track to his son William, who should be coming back from his 2nd gig as an alto saxophone player. *20 July 1988: Peel mentions his son William is going to perform at his third music gig and is disappointed that he won't be there to see it. *01 August 1988: Amayenge: 'Kanyama (Compilation LP-Shani! The Sounds Of Zambia)' (WOMAD) (JP: 'Got to see them at the weekend: they were quite wonderful....Saw them playing in the South Park at Oxford, an abbreviated set by all accounts, but I had to leave before the end because our William wasn't feeling terrifically well, and we had a three-hour drive to get home with him in some pain, but he still didn't regret being there for a minute. It was a wonderful performance....Attila The Stockbroker was there, and a great number of other congenial people as well.') '' *12 September 1988: Peel mentions that his son William recorded his favourite songs for the car holiday trip across France and one of them was the Pet Shop Boys' Rent, which he found along with the Pig quite appetising. He then goes on to say that one of the most popular songs from the family that was played in the car was Robert Lloyd And The New Four Seasons' All The Time In The World, which he plays on the show. *21 November 1988: Peel says that his favourite record to play loud with his son William in the car is a cassette from a German thrash metal band called Mottek. *06 December 1988 (Radio Bremen): Peel mentions his son William likes him to play Mottek or Bolt Thrower loud in the car. *19 December 1988: ''JP: "I warned you at the beginning of the programme that there was going to be a moment of self-indulgence, as if the whole thing wasn't self indulgent. Our William and our Alexandra are at a school called Combs Middle School in Suffolk and they put on a really good, I mean genuinely good show each year. Last year's came second in some kind of national competition and they entered the same competition this year with something called 'A Disuse Waves The Rules'. It has music by Simon Clover and lyrics by Ian Cristle, who are both teachers at the school, and our William and Alexandra go there, and they allow anybody who wants to take part in the thing at all can, which means obviously there are a lot of people in it. I went along to see it last week, really expecting you know to be vaguely, frankly bored by the whole proceedings, and it was really very, very good. I mean, so good that I went along to see it again, and not just because our Alexandra is in the chorus on this particular thing I'm about to play you. And you can hear William playing alto-saxophone about one minute and forty-two seconds into it, in case you want to listen that closely. As I say, very self-indulgent, but it means a lot to me." ''Combs Middle School: Beach Boy (from 'Odysseus Waives The Rules') ;1989 *03 January 1989: Peel mentions William is developing a taste for the works of Elmore James. *09 January 1989: Peel mentions that his son William will become a teenager on Thursday and he is not sure how he will take it. *11 January 1989: Peel says at midnight, William will be 13 years old, making him a father of a teenager. He then plays the Undertones' Teenage Kicks. *06 February 1989: ''(JP: 'And this is a record that our William approved of very much when I played it on Wednesday night's programme. So if he's still listening, which he shouldn't be actually, because he should be asleep, as he's got school tomorrow, he'll probably still approve of it') ''Agaric: I Am Gonna Beat Dis (12") Kaos Dance *05 April 1989: Peel mentions the Williams are named after Kenneth Williams and not his son, William Ravenscroft. *11 April 1989: Start of show: William Ravenscroft: ''Hello I'm William, this is my dad, he's 49, fat and fun, at least he thinks he's fun. John Peel: Thanks William, you're a real pal. *11 May 1989: Peel was tempted to see Mudhoney play in Norwich, but decided to see his son William perform with his saxophone in Stowmarket. *07 June 1989: Peel mentions his son William is in France for a school exchange programme. *13 July 1989: (JP: 'I mentioned in last night's programme that our William had gone, with one or two other people, to see the Fall playing in Cambridge last night, the first time he'd ever seen them, and he'd never expressed any interest in the records and things, but apparently he came back home, his eyes with a strange glitter in them, asking where Dad kept his Fall records. So I'd better divert him back to noise, I think.') '' *23 August 1989: Peel plays a track from Old Skull, featuring members that consists of nine and ten year old brothers, who he suggests to William that being thirteen, he's four years too late to start a band. *19 October 1989: William Ravenscroft (Peel's eldest son): ''"Hi I'm William and I'm from Stowmarket. I'm 13 and I just like to say hi to my brother Thomas and my sisters Alexandra and Florence. And by the way Dad, you left your room like a pigsty. The radio is switched on and the clothes all over the floor. I want it tidied up before you go to bed. OK". '' *09 November 1989: Peel reminds the listeners that they can start sending in their entries for the Festive 50. A little later, he reveals, ''"Speaking of the Festive 50, our William has announced his intention of submitting his list for the Festive 50 this year. It's an important moment you know in a boy's life, when he submits his first Festive 50 and I'm quite moved by all that. Unfortunately, Florence is also planning to submit hers and I think it will be Kylie all the way - not that I object to Kylie that much." *21 November 1989 (Radio Bremen): Peel mentions that his son William's favourite record at the moment is the Shamen single, Omega Amigo. *13 December 1989: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen *24 December 1989 (BBC Radio East Anglia): (JP: 'I'd love to be able to play guitar like Bo Diddley, in fact, I'd like to be able to play guitar like anybody at all. Somebody did give me a guitar in fact, a couple of years ago, for my birthday, well a year and a half ago, along with a little practice amp, but our William took the practice amp for his keyboards in his bedroom and I've not seen it since. Then some other person, unnamed because they wouldn't own up to it, broke one of the strings. So it sits in my room and remains unplayed. Perhaps this'll be the year when I become a guitar hero, who can possibly say.') (However, this actually appears to have been a Christmas present from the previous year: see 26 December 1988.) *24 December 1989 (BBC Radio East Anglia): (Begins with JP chatting to his son William, for whom he plays the next track.) Shamen, 'Omega Amigo (12 inch)' (One Little Indian) ;1990 *12 February 1990: Peel plays a set of hardcore punk records in a row starting from Kings Of Oblivion until the end of the Force Fed track for his son William who took the day off from school, because he is feeling subdue. *14 February 1990: (JP: 'Right William you can switch the radio off and go to sleep now, that's Prophecy Of Doom, the last from them tonight on this session as I say, a particular good session I think, that was called Hybrid Thought and I've been very self indulgent tonight and will continue to be so, but you know a special night in a way, this is FSK, another one for the Pig') *05 March 1990: Peel mentions that his son William is playing guitar in a nameless band and seems to be playing lots of blues material. *19 March 1990: Would Be's: Must It Be (session) (JP: 'Top radio critic Ken Garner with whom William and I stayed in Glasgow was very much looking forward to this session and I don't think he'll have been disappointed so far.') *26 March 1990: Peel mentions being bad tempered with William after having not a good night sleep and plays a Prophecy Of Doom track in the hope that he forgives him. *11 April 1990: Peel gets his children, William, Alexandra and her friend Joanna to draw the winners of the Fall competition, to win a copy of their single. *19 April 1990: Peel dedicates a Public Enemy track to a pirate radio DJ, who mispronounced Queen Latifah's name on a pirate radio station, which he and his son William were listening to. *23 May 1990: Peel mentions that William is doing his monthly saxophone gig in Stowmarket and is frustrated that he can't be there to see it. *05 July 1990: Peel mentions his son William having a day off from school, as he's not well. This gave a chance for Peel to see him in the bedroom, where he describes the bedroom as a black hole, where anything worthwhile, disappears in it. He then dedicates a record to William by playing a record called I Didn't Do My Homework by 2 Deep. *11 July 1990: (JP: Our William is playing a solo tonight. This doesn't mean a great deal to you but it means a lot to him, he does a regular monthly gig near us in a restaurant and just usually does ensemble playing and tonight he's playing his first alto solo and he's a bit nervous about it and I'm trying to find an appropriate record to play him, should he be listening on his way to the do, and couldn't come up with anything really beyond this, which isn't appropriate but at least says William in the title.) ''Smiths: William, It Was Really Nothing (Rough Trade RT166) 7"/12"/CD: William, It Was Really Nothing *27 September 1990: Peel mentions that William enjoys listening to the Paris Angels when the family are on holiday. *27 October 1990: Peel mentions seeing the Fall last night at the Waterfront in Norwich with the Pig and son William and mentions it is the Pig's birthday. *27 October 1990: Peel mentions that his son William and his friends are making a horror film. *10 November 1990: Peel mentions William doing a gig in Stowmarket, which not many people turned up, but he was proud of him. *30 December 1990: ''(JP: 'If our William had voted in the Festive Fifty, I think he'd have voted for this.') ''Paris Angels: All On You (Perfume) (12 inch) Sheer Joy ;1991 *12 January 1991: Peel's talk of what the family had done for William's 15th Birthday *22 July 1991 (Radio Bremen): ''(Peel talks about his forthcoming trip with the BBC World Service to Bulgaria with Sheila and William and makes some amusing comments on what he expects it would be like.) *27 July 1991: (JP: 'Our William recently discovered the work of Sonic Youth, which I'm very pleased about, because I like the band and I like the fact that he likes them well and during the last two or three days he tends to be one of those people at the moment anyway, to spend as much as his time sitting in his bedroom doing, frankly I have no idea what, but he's doing something up there, including listening to music enormously loud, so Kool Thing has come down the stairs in more than one occasion over the past 48 hours, so should he be still awake and listening to the programme, here's one for you William') *04 August 1991: (JP: 'Years and years ago, well about four or five years ago I venture, our William got keyboards and started messing around trying to record stuff at home, and to try and encourage him, I took him into our room and played him a record by 70 Gwen Party and said, "This is the kind of thing you can do with like limited resources in your own home," and he was much impressed by it.') *19 August 1991 (Radio Bremen): Unsane: Bloodboy (JP: "Our son William's favourite record at the moment, are we bringing the boy up right I ask myself") *30 August 1991 (BFBS): (Peel talks about his son William missing Twin Peaks and brother Alan's obsession with Elvis Presley movies) *21 December 1991: Nirvana track Territorial Pissings track played for "our William if he's still up listening to his dad." ;1992 *05 January 1992: Milk: 'Pyrosulphate' (Peel Session) (JP: 'Primordial...Our William's still fairly livid that I saw them in Stoke-On-Trent and he didn't.') *20 January 1992 (BBC World Service): Peel mentions that his son William became 16 last week and went with his friends to London to see Extreme Noise Terror. *15 February 1992: Liverpool are playing Ipswich the following day (in the 5th round of the FA Cup). All the family are going except JP (preparing for the night's show) and William ("he's not very interested in football"). Peel: "Not torn exactly. Obviously I hope that Liverpool will win it, because I hope they will win everything, but I wish it wasn't Ipswich they were going to have to beat." The match ends in a 0-0 draw, although Liverpool win the replay and eventually go on to win the cup that season. *16 February 1992: (JP: "Two great sessions tonight. Even our William agrees.") The sessions were from Even As We Speak and the Cranberries. *02 March 1992 (Ö3): Peel's son William is on a skiing holiday in Austria. *21 March 1992: William is in the studio, and JP urges him to play a choir sound on a synthesizer. *24 April 1992: John describes having seen Jacob's Mouse, House of Love and The Fall at the Waterfront in Norwich with William. Mark E Smith had shaken the latter's hand. *19 June 1992: (JP: ‘The first tune is William because our William has been doing his exams this week and has been in a thoroughly foul mood and this might cheer him up.’) ''Come: William (Peel Session) *07 August 1992: ''(JP: ‘And this is our William’s pick to click for the week.’) '' Hallucination Generation: Pulsation (12 inch EP – Somebody Give The Lord A Handclap) Thunderpussy (''John gets the artist, record and label mixed up) *15 August 1992: Peel mentions his son, William talking about Steve Hillage, who he thought was older than his dad. JP played the track Pentagramaspinn to his son, but the latter decided not to stay when the song finished. *04 September 1992: Peel had just played at the Reading Festival. John recounts an amusing tale from the festival involving a bunch of 90s comedians and his son William.... *19 September 1992: Peel tells how he and son William had planned to see Pond live earlier in the week but after a "ludicrous argument" they didn't go. The following track is played for him. Loudon Wainwright III: A Father And A Son (LP - History) Virgin (JP: 'Parallels our situation so closely it's uncanny, actually.') *07 November 1992: John failed to see Pond when they were at the Waterfront in Norwich due to having had a row with son William. *20 November 1992: (JP: ‘That’s enough of this nepotism.’ After asking his son William about the Bivouac gig at the Falcon.) *19 December 1992: (JP: 'If William is still listening, this is his choice for the programme.') ''70 Gwen Party: 'Auto Killer UK (LP-The Optical Glass Empire)' (Snape) *25 December 1992: ''(JP: 'This was William's choice for tonight's programme.') ''Aphex Twin: 'Didgeridoo (12 inch)' (R&S) ;1993 *26 March 1993: 70 Gwen Party: "Autokiller UK" (which ''"will bring great pleasure to our William, if he's listening...") *14 May 1993: (JP: ‘....by a curious coincidence the Pig and our William went to see them Harvey play at the University of East Anglia this evening and by all accounts a perfectly startlingly wonderful night. And by how much I wish that I’d been there.’) *23 July 1993: (JP: 'The most exciting thing to happen in our house since I was last with you, is that Our William passed his driving test. First go as well, and it's a strange moment in your life, when you've got one of your children who can actually drive, and sending him off to get stuff now, sit in front of the television, drink wine and have a thoroughly fine time.') *25 December 1993: (JP: 'All around the country, tension is rising as we move into the top eight of the Festive Fifty for this year...my thanks to my son William for lending me that.') ;1994 *01 January 1994 (BFBS): (JP: 'This is a track which I keep coming back to.... and it's a song that always upsets me, I don't know why I always play it - you think - "He's been reading my diaries" it identifies so neatly the relationship between father and son at least as experienced between myself and our William, nearly 18.') ''Loudon Wainwright III: A Father & A Son (album - History) Virgin V2703 *28 January 1994: Peel mentions that his children, Alexandra & Thomas and Florence all took their speech & drama exams and says that his other son William has got a place at University of Liverpool as long as he passes his A-Levels. He also said that he got an NME award as well. *15 July 1994: Tribute To Nothing: ‘Can't Get Up’ (Peel Session) ''(JP: Well I’d like to dedicate that track to our William, who has a very similar problem to that.’) ;1995 *28 July 1995: (JP: 'It's been an exhausting day, really, because last night I went to one of the Promenade concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, first time I've been to one in about twenty years. It was all right, you know, I'd gone along at the invitation of a senior BBC person, there werer about twenty of us there. It was extraordinary: it was amazingly hot, as you might imagine in the Royal Albert Hall. And yet all of the other people who were there were all immaculately dressed, you know, mainly in white and things like this, and they seemed to be entirely undeterred by the heat: they all sat there looking as crisp as a lettuce while I was wearing a shirt. First of all, it had been in the washing machine next to our William's socks, I rather suspect, because as it got hot, as I got hot and the shirt got hot, this revolting kind of miasma rose up from it, and the smell was appalling, and anybody who met me and was speaking to me in the course of it must have thought, "This man has got serious problems of some sort or another". I sit there, and everybody else is crisp as a lettuce, and as fresh as you like, and I'm sitting there, and my shirt is like knotting itself about my body, and I can feel sweat running down the back of me neck into what little hair I've got and disappearing into my shirt, and my shirt is absolutely soaked, and everybody else remains as crisp as you like. The music is just about fine, I wish I could remember the man's name. There was a Russian man playing Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto: the only time for me that it came completely alive was when he was playing the kind of solo bits, you know. The orchestra just fine, a BBC Orchestra, but it was like Dick Dale when it got going. It was extraordinary. He was singing along with it....as he was thundering away at the piano.') *What The Magazines Say: Peel was guest presenter on What The Magazines Say, which was broadcast on 29th July 1995 on BBC2. During the programme, Peel reviewed several music magazines and fanzines, including publicly apologising to Damon Albarn after Peel's son William, claimed that his father was obnoxious to the Blur singer at the Phoenix Festival. *25 August 1995: (JP: 'When I was listening to this next record at home during the week, I was having a bit of a disagreement with our William about something, and I was making a forceful point, as we fathers do, and he waited until I'd finished speaking, and he said to me, "For God's sake, Dad! Why do you have to exaggerate absolutely everything you say about anything?"') ''Barrington Levy & Beenie Man: 'Murderer (7 inch-Murderation)' (Yaga Yaga Prod) *26 August 1995 (BFBS): JP gets a little choked up with pride when relating the fact that William got good enough grades to go to the university of his choice. ''"We're all very proud of him." *06 October 1995: A week of mixed emotions for John. He’s taken his son William Ravenscroft off to university. On the one hand he’s very proud of his son, on the other very upset that he was going. *29 December 1995: (JP: This is The Festive Fifty on Radio 1 coming live to you from Peel Acres: a rather abandoned Peel Acres as it is at the moment, because our Flossie and William just drove out for some reason, trying to see I think if the chip shop is still open. Frankly, I hope that it is.) ;1996 *17 February 1996 (BFBS): (JP: 'I'm such an amusing chap that when Strange Fruit records, with whom I used to pick the tracks (never got any money out of it, I hasten to add, all those John Peel Session things, nothing to do with me financially at all), but they let me pick, me and my son William actually, picked the tracks for a Sub Pop compilation, and I was going to call it something enormously droll, like the Sub Pop Strange Fruit Greatest Hits LP Volume Three, just so people could try and collect One and Two. Ha ha ha, didn't exist, ha ha, what a waggish guy. Ha ha ha ha ha!') *23 March 1996 (BFBS): (JP: 'I thought I'd lost this excellent LP....and I blamed our son actually, William, for not having filed it properly, 'cos we paid him to file my CDs last summer, you know, 'cos he was too lazy to get a holiday job, frankly, so we thought we might just as well employ him ourselves because he did virtually nothing all summer except sit in the room and listen to CDs, which is rather an agreeable way of spending the summer, I suppose.') *25 May 1996: John apologises for not being able to get William into the Transglobal Underground gig. *18 August 1996: Peel dedicates a record to William who came back from Istanbul, Turkey and plays a record called Istanbul by the Phantom Surfers. ;1997 *19 January 1997: Peel mentions his son William saw the Wedding Present play yesterday and thought they were better than he'd ever seen them. *09 February 1997: Peel dedicates a Panacea record to his son William at university by saying that a copy of the artist's CD will be sent to him. *24 April 1997: Peel mentions his son William is doing some archaeology work for his university at the Great Elms. *28 May 1997: Peel mentions meeting Mark E. Smith of The Fall in Manchester and was not able to understand what he was chatting about and proceeds to say that the Fall singer kept whispering to his son William about something. Peel then asked his son William what Mark E Smith told him and William replied that he couldn't understand also what Mark E. Smith was saying. *09 July 1997: Peel dedicates a Half Man Half Biscuit track to his son William, who says he is at some archaeological dig somewhere. *09 October 1997 (BFBS): This show was recorded on 29 September: JP complains (again) that he cannot attend the Liverpool v. Celtic match (which in any case ended in a goalless draw) the following night. William did, however. *23 October 1997 (BFBS): (JP: 'An exciting moment at Peel Acres here last night, because my wife Sheila and myself actually managed to read out our first email address (I had a lot of stuff diverted here from other places where I work). I'm not up to speed with the technologies, as I pointed out before on these programmes, but we got our first email that we could actually read, and it's from our son William. As soon as we learn how to send one back again, what I'll do is pass on the address to you the listener to John Peel's Music On BFBS, so you can just, instead of having to send things through the head office as it were, you can just get in touch with me directly. That's pretty good, isn't it? I can't see anything wrong with that.') *23 December 1997: Panacea: 'Stormbringer (CD-Low Profile Darkness)' (Position Chrome) William Ravenscroft (DJ's son) ;1998 *23 June 1998: Peel says that a member of Melys (Carys) rang him last night and he missed Michael Owen's goal for England against Romania in the World Cup football, because she wanted to speak to his son William. *14 July 1998: Peel mentions that his sons William and Tom were impressed with Xol Dog 400's performance at Meltdown, but thinks the audience should have done more than watching him perform. He goes on to say that Xol Dog 400's real name is Christian and thought he was a nice bloke. *25 August 1998: Peel mentions his son, William, has run out of money in Poland. *November 1998 (FSK): Peel mentions that he's got to put the chickens away and dreads going outside as it is too cold and also says that he hoped his son William would do it, but in fact he didn't. *20 December 1998 (BFBS): William's slow but methodical filing system of Peel's collection allows him to play a track from the Rondelles LP minutes after claiming he couldn't find it. *22 December 1998: The first part of the 1998 Festive Fifty, compiled in conjunction with his son William. *29 December 1998: (JP: 'Before we play the number one record, it's my thanks to our son William, to Anita the producer, and to Joe Harland for compiling the Festive Fifty and relieving me of the burden, and....(to the others in the studio) you're supposed to be making some celebratory noises (they oblige). That's a bit too much, actually. That registers as a celebration in our house, anyway.) ;1999 *20 February 1999 (BFBS): (JP: 'Spring is almost here, you know. I was recording this programme sort of late afternoon for you here on BFBS, and in the field across the road, I can see four whopping great rabbits from here, and doubtless there are more skulking in the hedgerows. I'm in the house on me own at the moment because my wife and William our son have gone to collect animal feed products: just cat food and chicken food and dog food and that sort of thing from a neighbouring village. It's the only connection we have with our most famous neighbour, Bill Wyman out of the Rolling Stones, formerly of the Rolling Stones. We share an animal feed product place: I think that puts me pretty close to the wacky world of rock-a-boogie.') *April 1999 (FSK): Peel mentions his son William is in Japan and hopes that when he comes back, he'll bring loads of records. *May 1999 (FSK): Peel plays a record by Yam Yam which his son William brought back from Japan on holiday. He mentions that his son went to Hawaii as well, but didn't buy any records from there. *09 June 1999: Dedicates “fairly astonishing” track by Huck Don Phun track to son William, who has just found a job. *June 1999 (FSK): Peel mentions his son William buying a Japanese alarm clock from his trip to Japan for his sister Florence. He goes on to say that he played it on the radio and the Cuban Boys sampled it and used it on their track called Flossie's Alarming Clock, which he plays on the show. *01 July 1999: Show from Peel Acres, with William on email duties. The “very strange” Huk Don Phun track is dedicated to him (as it had been on 09 June 1999). *01 September 1999: Peel offers public apology to son William for his comments about him on a TV show that went out as part of the 60th birthday programming (Father And Son). Says William accepting his apology had been the highlight of the previous evening. *08 September 1999: The Albert Ammons track is from the EMI Songbook Series album with songs chosen by Ivor Cutler, given to Peel for his birthday by son William’s girlfriend Zara. *23 September 1999: Richie Hawtin (aka Plastikman) allegedly “whipped” at pool by Peel’s son William, but this is denied by William himself. *24 November 1999: Start of show: "They took 20 seconds out of this programme, you know. I'm not forgiving about that sort of thing. Tonight we're down at the Maida Vale studios with L'augmentation and Woodbine who'll be playing for you later on, and the Peelenium reaches 1976, the year our William was born." The latter fact prompts a temporary title change by the Pig to the 'Willenium'. *28 November 1999 (BBC World Service): Peel mentions that his son William and girlfriend Zara are in south east Asia and are hoping that they are listening to him on the BBC World Service. ;2000 *20 January 2000: (JP: 'Only yesterday, we got a phone call from our William, who's in the Southeast of Asia at the moment, and he is actually at this very precise moment on holiday in Cambodia, which brings us rather spookily to number 14.') ''Dead Kennedys, 'Holiday In Cambodia (7 inch)' (Cherry Red) *March 2000 (FSK): Peel says that his son William is leaving for Newcastle to live with his girlfriend and says that he was a great pain in the bum and fantastically unhelpful, but will still miss him terribly and goes on to say that he made an effort to clean his room a little bit twenty years over due. Peel discovered in his room after his clean up, a demo CD of Cowcube, that was given to William, whilst in Stowmarket and goes on to play a track from it. *13 March 2000 (BFBS): ''(JP: 'This is the band our William used to call the "Jimmy Jimmy Men" when he was a little lad.') ''Undertones: 'Jimmy Jimmy (7")' (Sire) ''(JP: 'Of course, William doesn't call the Undertones the "Jimmy Jimmy Men" any longer, but he is 24 now.') *14 March 2000: (JP: "Well, I bet that Simon is really excited about getting his prize. He'll but up with his mates, probably, standing at the door of the house, waiting for us to deliver the records to him. So I'll give him a ring now and tell him where we are. Hello, is that Simon? I've worked out that if you were to listen continuously day and night, you've got 28 days of continuous listening in front of you, and obviously you're unlikely to be able to do that, so it's going to be a long time before you've heard them all .. if you ever get to hear them all. I don't think we've got quite 2000, probably about 1750, but we will get you the others.) '(Sheila: "Do you want a Murray Mint William?")' ''(William: "No thank-you") '(Sheila: "What are you listening to?" '(William; "5Live") '(JP: "Well that's bloody useful. I was hoping he'd say 'Well I'm listening to the Pixies whatever, one of my favourite records', and then we could play it, but he's listening to the football on 5Live ... but that's how it should be too.") *16 March 2000: Introducing ‘Peter Gunn’: “This is the record that I used to maintain was the best record that have ever been made until ‘Teenage Kicks’ came along.” After the Elastica track that follows, which has a vaguely similar guitar riff, JP then plays again “the most sublime moment in all of recorded popular music, when the sax stops and Duane comes twanging in on his own.” Anita the producer claims to have never heard the record before. William apparently tells his dad to turn it down before he blows the speakers. *20 March 2000 (BFBS): Repeat of 13 March 2000 (BFBS) *20 September 2000: JP: This next is a wonderful set and I have 3 copies of it and I am going to send one of them to our Tom at university and another to our William at home in the far north of England and it’s a set called Ram Raiders Pt.1 *12 November 2000 (BBC World Service): Peel mentions his son William bought his mother for her birthday an inflatable rhinoceros. *12 December 2000: Peel had been to Anfield on Sunday to see Liverpool v Ipswich. Ipswich won 1-0. Peel: "Liverpool were so appalling... by the end of the match I was almost hoping that Ipswich would win to teach them a lesson - and indeed they did of course." ''Son William had gone along to the match as well and was reportedly ''"incandescent with fury" at Liverpool's "unutterably feeble" performance. ;2001 * 09 May 2001: Peel gets an email from his son William, who writes was the mullet that he saw in Finland as good as Pat Sharp or his mum's old one. *09 October 2001: JP’s mood isn’t improved when a phone call from William reveals that Peel’s eldest son has a copy of the new Fall album – and Peel doesn’t. *October 2001 (FSK): Peel mentions his son William went to see The Fall in Newcastle and was disappointed that Mark E Smith allowed one of the road crew to sing last of the 3 songs, which Peel felt William did not pay to see. Before The Fall's second track on the show, Peel mentions that William, who is working for a record promoter, has a nickname called Winner, because as a child he couldn't pronounce his own name and instead said Winner. He goes on to mention that The Fall's album Are You A Missing Winner is not connected to William's nickname. *November 2001 (FSK): Peel mentions receiving a phone call from his son William in Newcastle to tell him that he went to see the White Stripes and the Von Bondies with his girlfriend and some other people in Edinburgh last night and thought they were amazing. That concert took place on 16th November 2001. *27 December 2001: (JP: 'I have to tell you that members of my own family are so interested in the Festive Fifty that three of them have gone to the pub, William is watching the TV, and I'm not sure what the other one is doing.') ;2002 *05 March 2002: JP: "I got a concerned phonecall from our William actually, while that record was playing, to say that his girlfriend was very disturbed indeed at the thought that I might actually have a hymen in a matchbox. I had to assure her that it was a rather tasteless joke." ;2003 *24 September 2003: Peel mentions that William had been to see the Immortal Lee County Killers recently and was very impressed. "In fact, he went to see them again the following night, that's how good they were." *05 November 2003: It is mentioned in passing that William had been in Prague that weekend. ;2004 *07 January 2004: As a Christmas gift, William and partner Zahra had given Peel "an excellent book" of photographs for the most part taken along Route 66 in the US. *08 January 2004: Peel's production team decide to play a rendition of a musical card playing 'You're The One I Want' from the musical Grease to celebrate William's birthday on the 12th of January. See Also *Father And Son Category:People Category:Artists